David Young

Pre-season loadout analysis: A machete above the Arctic Circle is a conversation starter. Only five of the 101 contestants with a recorded gear list in our data have carried one, and nearly all machete picks belong to brush country logic, fast clearing, green vegetation, mild climates. David Young took his to the Richardson Mountains, where the wood problem is frozen and structural, and paired it with a saw as the other half of the processing system. No axe anywhere on the list.

Pre-season loadout analysis: There is also no dedicated knife and no paracord recorded; a multitool holds down fine blade work, and a tarp claims one of the freed slots. The tarp and machete together sketch a fast, mobile camp philosophy: shelter up quickly, clear what you need, stay light. His background with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game shows more in the acquisition trio, bow, snare wire, fishing kit, the full three system spread.

Pre-season loadout analysis: It adds up to one of Season 13's more experimental kits, a list that trades the arctic consensus for speed. Whether a machete can carry an axe's winter workload is exactly the kind of question this season exists to answer. Usual caveat: S13 lists in our data trace to a single pre season source.